Pheromone Dust - Rarpee's version
by H'te Rarpee
Summary: In an accident while fighting Roman Torchwick, a strange new dust is implanted in Jaune's body. This dust begins to have strange effects on the girls around Jaune. See description in authors note for explanation of the title. Rated T for the time being, but that may change.


**Authors Note: You may have seen this title before, a story by YouAreRight…Not! If you have read his story then you know that the concept of this story comes from a mutual friend of ours on DeviantArt, Exvnir. After reading YARN's version of this story, I decided I wanted to do a version of my own with some changes. Just so you know I have cleared this with both YANR and Exvnir, they are well aware I am doing this and have no problems with it. So, here we go! Also, on the off chance you have read FaintQuills story "The Shining Knight" This is not what he was talking about in chapter 13. That will come later ;)**

* * *

Pheromone dust

* * *

It was a quiet evening. The month of December had just arrived, and with it the first traces of snow and ice. Jaune's breath fogged in the evening chill as he walked along the streets of Vadril, a town only a half hours walk away from Beacon. Jaune wrapped his scarf tighter around his neck as he pondered various things, such as Beacon, his friends, what he should get to eat, his friends, why he had chosen Vadril of all places, his friends…

Jaune stopped, tugging at his hair in frustration. He was sick and tired of it! Every time his thoughts drifted back to his friends all he could think about was how sub-par he was compared to them! He was not as skilled as Pyrrha, not as stealthy as Blake, not as dexterous as Ren, not as fast as Ruby, not as smart as Weiss, not as strong as Yang, and his endurance was nowhere near as ridiculous as Nora's.

All he had was a large aura, and he barely knew how to use that either. The most he could do was take hits for his friends and allow his aura to heal him.

In short, he was useless.

And that _infuriated_ him.

Jaune wanted to be someone! All his life he was overshadowed by his father. The one moment he had to prove his worth was faking his way into Beacon, and once he arrived he was immediately overshadowed by his exemplary teammates and friends. But more than his desire to be someone, Jaune wanted to be noticed. He wanted to be told he was valuable, that he mattered or that he was important.

This desire burned in his heart, and he wished upon every fallen star or fallen eyelash that someone would tell him at least _one_ of those things. But every wish has two interpretations, and "important" was a very subjective word. What Jaune considered to be "Important" was not quite the same as what other people thought of "important." And it is on that note that our story begins.

* * *

Jaune was interrupted from his pondering when a crash sounded from the shop to his right. His head snapped to the right as he watched Roman Torchwick, a known criminal from Vale pointing his gun towards the head of the shopkeeper.

This was his chance. He doubted he could defeat Roman, but maybe he drive him away and save the shopkeeper! Jaune crept up to the door and, remembering his training/sparring with Pyrrha, unsheathed his sword and unfolded his shield.

Once he saw Torchwick ready to pull the trigger, Jaune burst through the door with a shout of "Stop right there!"

Dead silence.

Jaune bit the inside of his mouth, trying to keep his hands from shaking. It had all seemed good in his head, he would burst through the door, fight off the goons and drive back Torchwick in an epic finale! But that was all in his head. This was real life, and not everything would work out the way he imagined it.

In short, he ran.

The gunfire trailing his feet was very helpful in providing a nice speed boost.

Jaune hid behind a shelf, clutching his sword in both hands and desperately attempting to recall what Pyrrha had taught him.

_Deep breaths_

He did so, and the shaking began to die down.

_Relax your muscles, being tensed up will do you no good._

Jaune shook his arms out and rolled his shoulders back and forth, feeling himself calm down.

_Reach out with your ears, hear them coming before you see them. And once you do, you are ready._

Jaune closed his eyes, listening for the crunch of broken glass and plaster against hard soled boots. He heard it, directly behind him and to the left. Directing his aura to his arms, he turned and drove his white flaming fist through the shelf, grabbed the shoulder of the goon and ripped him through the shelf, past himself and straight through the wall.

Jaune stared at the hole the goon had made, before bringing up his shield on instinct to block more gunfire from the remaining thugs.

'I can do this… I can actually do this!' Jaune thought joyfully.

That is, of course, where everything went wrong. A bullet hit the side of Jaune's shield and ricocheted directly into the center of his chest. Blood filled his mouth as he tumbled back, straight through the hole he had made by throwing the goon, and right under a falling shelf.

Various crystal vials shattered around him, but one single thing hit him. A violet crystal, shaped into a perfect diamond, fell at just the perfect angle to plunge right into the bullet hole made by the goon.

Jaune's vision went black as a column of violet light lit up the town of Vadril, visible all the way from Beacon.

* * *

_The next morning_

"-ynda! Please calm down!"

"I will not calm down Ozpin! I am the dust specialist in this school! Not Professor Isaac! I can handle this just fine!"

"…this wouldn't happen to have anything to do with his age, or the fact that he graduated the acceptance exam to be a teacher with a higher score than you?"

"Of course not!"

"…"

"Do not give me that look Ozpin! I just do not think that he is up to the job of-"

"How rude."

Jaune awoke, blinking out the tiredness from his eyes as he attempted to look upon the startled faces of two professors he knew, and one he didn't, but was forced to squint when a blinding light filled his vision.

"Ah, welcome back to the world of the living Jaune," said Ozpin, and it may have just been Jaune's hearing acting up, but he could have sworn that Ozpin had sounded relieved.

Glynda sighed deeply, shooting one last look in the direction of the new professor before saying, "If you trust him Ozpin, then I will try to have some faith as well."

"Thank you for the vote of confidence Ms. Goodwitch," came that same voice Jaune heard before. A rich, soothing baritone voice that made Jaune sleepy once more, and he had to fight quite hard to not fall back asleep.

The bed sunk as the strange professor sat down next to Jaune, casting shadows across Jaune's vision and allowing him to see the man clearly for the first time.

His skin was pale, but not sickly so. He had dark hair that contrasted quite nicely with his skin, and gray eyes. He had a stern face, but Jaune could see softness in his eyes that comforted him. He wore a blue undershirt and a gray jacket on top, but there were no distinguishing marks anywhere upon his outfit.

"Who…" Jaune muttered, sifting through his memories, yet finding none containing the strange professor.

"Ah, this is Professor Isaac, the newest and youngest addition to Beacon staff, and an aura specialist. He will be examining you," said Ozpin.

"What happened…" Jaune mumbled.

"We found you buried in the ruins of a destroyed dust store. The shopkeeper was safe outside, and we were able to piece together what happened from him. However, Torchwick managed to escape before we arrived," Ozpin said.

Jaune leaned his head back against the pillow, but started when he heard Professor Isaac speak once more.

"I know you must be confused Jaune, but please bear with me for a short time, this will not take long," he said in a patient voice.

Jaune nodded sleepily, the fight to stay awake having got much harder all of a sudden.

"I'm going to momentarily meld your aura with mine and scan it for abnormalities," he said, "It will only take a few seconds, you won't feel a thing."

There was a moment's pause as a faint smoke seemed to float up from the professor's skin. The tendrils of smoke floated around Jaune for a moment, before they began to sink into his skin. Jaune felt a sense of unease as the professor closed his eyes and pressed a hand against Jaune's chest.

Jaune _felt_ something in his aura, a foreign presence, but not a scary one. It sifted through his aura, swimming through his body before coming to his chest. There was a single moment's pause before it continued on through his body. The feeling was actually quite soothing, and Jaune felt himself begin to slip back into the dark realm of dreams.

"Alright, all done."

"It seems he has fallen asleep."

"I can see that Ozpin."

"…"

"Shall I take him back to his room?"

"You might as well. Remember the cover story I told you, we don't want to worry his friends."

"I remember, don't worry."

"Very well. Report back to my office when you are done, and grab Glynda on your way over, we still need to identify that dust crystal in his chest…"

* * *

Jaune awoke to a strange sight.

His vision was clouded with red, and there was a strange weight on his body as well. He attempted to sit up, but stopped short when something tightened around his back. Something that felt like arms…

Several questions began to run through his sleepy mind.

What had happened?

What did that strange professor do to him?

Why was someone lying on top of him?

Wait…

What!?

Jaune was suddenly wide awake as he looked upon the sleeping face of Pyrrha Nikos, who so happened to be draped across his body, her own face inches away from his.

Luckily, she was still asleep.

Jaune slowly shifted her off of his body and laid her next to him. He got up out of the bed, realizing as he stretched that he was dressed in his battle gear and not a hospital gown. Silently pondering various questions, he slipped out of the dorm room, only to run into Weiss.

Literally.

Jaune closed his eyes and flinched, already preparing himself for the rebuke that was sure to come. But when only silence met him, he peeked out from under his eyelids to see Weiss staring at him in a way that was all too creepy.

"Uhhh… Weiss?" Jaune said, waving a hand in front of her face.

"Hello Jaune…" she said slowly, still staring at him.

At this point, Jaune was sufficiently confused. He attempted to step back, but before he could even put his foot back down Weiss's hand shot forward and grasped his forearm in a vice-like grip.

"Uh, Weiss!?" Jaune whimpered, trying to remember if he had done anything to make her angry. But for the life of him, he could remember nothing. Her grip began to tighten, and Jaune realized he had to get his arm back now, before her grip became too tight.

With a mighty effort, Jaune wrenched his arm out of her grip, causing her eyes to narrow. Jaune took a deep breath, and was about to open his mouth to say something when he saw her reaching for Myrtenaster.

He didn't need any other hint.

He ran.

But little did Jaune know that his troubles were just beginning. For Weiss was the slowest to be affected, and while Jaune could not have known it, he was running directly towards the remainder of team RWBY.

Oh yes, the next few days would be harrowing indeed.


End file.
